On Wednesday, December 28, 1994 at 9:14:46 AM UTC-5, Sharon Krossa wrote:   
   > Greetings all:   
   >      I have been wondering for many years about the "Irishness" of my    
   > first name: Sharon. I hope this is an appropriate place to post my question.   
   >      In the United States, 'Sharon' is almost universally regarded as    
   > being an Irish Catholic name, with a smaller number coming from a Jewish    
   > background. It's not a particularly common name (I've met less than a dozen   
   > Sharon's in the USA) though I'm told its actually on the top 50 names    
   > list of the last 100 years or so, though near the bottom (again, in the USA).   
   >      All my life I've been told 'Sharon' is an Irish name, and I have    
   > never met a Sharon in the USA who did not think the same and who was not    
   > of Irish Catholic ancestry. Now, I know that originally the name comes    
   > from the _Song of Songs_ in the Bible, from the reference to "the rose of    
   > Sharon", the Sharon there being a geographic location (a plain I'm told).    
   > My question is not about the original source, but about whether Sharon is    
   > a common name in Ireland, now or in the past, or is Sharon more    
   > accurately described in the USA as a "Irish-American" name rather than an    
   > "Irish" name? Did Sharon only become popular among Irish ancestered    
   > people *after* they arrived in the USA, or is this a continuation of Irish    
   > tradition?   
   >       I have searched Irish and Scots Gaelic name lists in vain for a    
   > gaelic version of Sharon (as a name), which I would have expected if it    
   > was a longstanding traditional name (Just as one finds all the popular    
   > saints names from the bible in Irish form...). Does Sharon exist as a    
   > name in Irish (Gaelic)?   
   >       If Sharon isn't and wasn't ever a popular Irish Catholic name (in    
   > Ireland) -- where did the American perception that it is/was come from?    
   >       Anyway, I hope you can help me solve this mystery!   
   > Thank you,   
   > Sharon Krossa, s.krossa@aberdeen.ac.uk (don't be fooled by my email    
   > address -- I really am an American!)   
   > PS I am aware of the amazing popularity and rather unflattering    
   > stereotypes associated with the name Sharon in England and Scotland --    
   > was rather a shock coming from the USA where all it meant was you were    
   > probably Irish and *that* is regarded in the USA as being a *good* thing! ;-)   
      
   My name is Sharron O'Brien definitely Iris-Catholic descent however, I also   
   have met few Sharon's and in particular spelt the same as mine w 2 re's, my   
   son lived on Ireland for a year and told me the favourite nick name  for   
   Sharron's was Shazza....I    
   love it   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)